The End of My Journey, But Really Just the Beginning

Hello from The Netherlands! I am finally back home, well kind of. Next Saturday I will officially be home again, and man am I looking forward to it! This journey has been the most challenging thing I have done, but also the most rewarding. I learned, while on outreach, that sometimes we have to go through awful difficulties, but God will always be faithful to give you comfort, to give you peace, to answer you, to give you joy, and to restore your joy. All he asks is for us to run to Him in these times (actually in all circumstances 😉). While my team and I were at our first location in Indonesia I went through severe home sickness and depression. I could literally feel the heaviness on my body. I felt so overwhelmed at times and I thought I would never make it the whole two and a half months. The strange thing was that I loved the ministry time and I really felt God working through me, but as soon as the ministry was over my joy was stripped from me and I felt the pressure over me again. I have always been a person that stresses out, but it’s never caused me to feel so negative. I also did not have a great relationship with my team members. This little factor made it a whole lot harder. Thankfully my team was filled with caring people. They prayed for me and encouraged me so much during my struggle and the rest of the outreach. Finally, after about two weeks of this overwhelming pressure, sadness, and homesickness God pulled me out of the mud! He restored my joy and hope. I didn’t feel alone anymore. He was speaking to me the entire two weeks and giving me encouragement, but I didn’t feel freed from the overwhelming pressure till two weeks in. It may have taken awhile, and it definitely sucked, but God was faithful to me. He never left me, and He allowed me to be a part of something so amazing even when I was feeling that way. He has also allowed me to use my experience to be a testimony for so many along the way in Indonesia and the Philippines and now to you all. Don’t doubt our incredible Lord! Even when we don’t understand why things happen the way they do. God truly has you in his hand, and He loves you so incredibly much. As I write that, my heart is filled with joy and my eyes with tears because I know now just how much He cares and loves me. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wrench like me.” – Broken Vessels “amazing grace”

Thankfully the struggle was not the only thing that happened during my time in Indonesia and the Philippines! I became a family with my awesome team, I preached to the homeless, I shared testimonies to youth and adults, I lead a women’s devotional time 5 minutes after being asked, I got to pray for the hopeless, I gave joy to children that live on garbage, and so much more! Actually, I didn’t do any of this with my own power. The Holy Spirit did all of this through me. I have learned so much, seen so much, and experienced so much.

Shortly, I will tell ONE of my favorite things from outreach. It was to meet the people of Indonesia and the Philippines. They are so different from the western people. I can learn a lot from them, like their hospitality. Whenever we would go to visit someone, no matter how little they had, they wanted to give you something. They always made sure we were enjoying ourselves and had whatever we needed. They were so selfless and looking to serve. This is only one of the things I have enjoyed and learned on outreach.

I am also very excited to be back home to see you all, but for now I’m happy to be back with all the students of my DTS at LID (the place where we live).

I would like to say thank you to you all for making it possible for me to go on this journey. These five and a half months have been life changing. I’m a new person. Someone who knows, a little bit better, the true love of her savior. Someone who is now in love with her savior. And those two things in itself is so much more than I could ask for.